A Soldier's Life

Chapter 143: Spider Legs

The black spider had eight thick, hairy legs. Each was as thick as my wrist and the hair thick enough to be wire. The worst part about the arachnid was the smell. Now, admittedly, after weeks in the city, none of us was very hygienic, but this spider emitted an odor that reminded me of pungent urine that had been sitting in the sun all day.

Scholar Favian was called up with his cookbook of dungeon delicacies. Even though he had once been excited at the prospect of trying dungeon creatures, he turned up his nose when he got close. “It looks like a rappelling black spider. They are the only black spiders mentioned with thick hairy legs within the recipes.”

Castile confirmed his guess, “I entered a large room, and it dropped on it from above on its thread.”

“Well, yes. Let us see: the legs should be boiled or steamed to start. Then, they should be cracked open for the flesh. The flesh can be grilled with a glaze or baked with butter,” the Scholar recalled.

Lirkin, our cook, noted sarcastically, “Let me go and check the pantry. Nope. Don’t have any of...” He paused, “We have a tiny bit of honey left...”

With a bad arm, Konstantin put a damper on an early dinner, “We should wait till dark if we are going to start a fire in here. The smoke may attract the specters or let the Summoner know where we are in the city.”

“Agreed, it should be dark in a few hours,” Castile confirmed the need for caution.

Scholar Favian noted, “The book said you have about eight hours before the spider meat starts to spoil.” Lirkin nodded as he hauled the spider toward the fireplace in the tavern and began giving orders for water and the large cast iron pot to be hauled up from the space we were using in the undercity.

Castile motioned me to a table. I made my way to sit with Castile and Adrian. Castile opened with her experience in the dungeon. “The entry was different from the one you described Adrian. It was oval with two exits. Each exit led to an intersection about forty feet down. I followed the corridors with my all-seeing-eye, but the dungeon disrupted it when I was removed from the line of sight.”

“It is not unusual. The walls of the dungeon probably contain concentrated aether. If it is a maze, then it makes sense that the dungeon would have counters to exploring with magic.” Castile sipped on her canteen before continuing. “I stayed right and came to a large chamber, maybe fifty feet across. I teased out one of the spiders from the ceiling by stepping into the room and pulled it into the corridor before dispatching it.”

“Do you think anyone in the company can handle the dungeon alone?” Adrian asked seriously.

“Maybe the goliath and Konstantin if he was healthy,” Castile gave her opinion.

“What about me?” I asked, and immediately regretted it. I had been surprised she had not considered me capable of going in alone.

Castile studied me and contained a smile. “I would have included you if you let me finish. After we see how edible the spider is, we can decide who goes in next. One of us has to remain here to use the kettle. I also condensed this.” Castile placed a small sphere on the table.

The dark pink sphere rolled on the table. It was a minor essence of coordination. Castile had carried Sebastian’s large collector in her backpack, but it had been so long that I had forgotten about essences. My own stolen collector was designed for dungeons. Castile asked. “Who deserves this?”

Adrian was quick to reply, “Benito has not fortified his coordination attribute, but his broken wrist hampers him, and he is not fighting effective at the moment.”

I put forth Maveith’s name. “Maveith prevented us from being overrun by the specters. He saved all our lives.”

The two of them made eye contact, and Castile stated and nodded. “Maveith it is.” Adrian pocketed the essence for now to give to the goliath later.

Adrian tapped the table with his fingertips, thinking. “Are we going to try and map the dungeon? There can only be so many entry rooms.”

“Let’s plan on just getting some food into everyone first. There were supposed to be bears in the maze, but I didn’t see any in the small area I explored. There was elven writing on the wall, probably to alert the delver which safe room they had arrived in and where to go.” Castile informed us.

Adrian thought momentarily, “There was writing in the rooms I entered as well. Maybe we should send in the Scholar to read the script and then return.”

“Not yet. That first encounter was much too dangerous for one person. There were maybe a dozen of those spiders in the ceiling, waiting. I think we are missing something.” Castile looked deep in thought.

I thought about it, too. “If there are a fixed number of entry rooms, then couldn’t you just keep exiting and returning until you end up in the same room as someone else?”

“Perhaps. Adrian, why don’t you try that with a legionnaire? We need to understand the rules of this dungeon.” Castile ordered.

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Adrian stood and looked around the room, deciding, “Flavius, you and I are going to try and puzzle out the labyrinth. Come with me.”

Castile also stood to whisper softly to him, “Don’t leave the safe room entrance. We will have food ready for you when you return.”

Flavius didn’t look too enthused about being selected. He talked with Adrian briefly before they both headed down the snow tunnel. I was on kettle duty while Castile rested, and we waited for the sun to set.

The fire was started as soon as it was dark, and the iron cauldron we hauled from the library had the water boiling. It took about two hours. The spider legs went into the water, and soon, the entire tavern smelled like a wet dog. The cauldron foamed and boiled over, causing even more foul air to fill the space. Fifteen minutes later, Lirkin dragged the kettle off the coals and removed the steaming legs. They had turned white. “Perfect,” Favian said excitedly, “That is exactly how they should look! Just crack them open to retrieve the flesh and do the secondary cooking.”

Maveitn used his hammer to crack the hot legs, and the flesh inside didn’t look or smell too terrible. It was rubbery and had an off-white color. Lirkin had set up a makeshift grill using the runic armor. It was too narrow and long for anyone in the company to wear it. It was gross when you thought a zombie elf had worn it for fifteen hundred years, but Lirkin first heated it in the fire, and this was no time to worry about such things.

The glaze was a honey and wine mixture that he reduced in the pot. The first chunk of meat hit the runic armor and sizzled. It almost smelled like grilled chicken. He turned it and glazed the seared side, then turned it again and glazed the other side. The first piece of spider meat was ready for consumption. My mouth couldn’t help but water, even knowing where it had come from. It actually smelled good!

Everyone was in the tavern as the fireplace heated the room well, and the smell of cooked food was too powerful to ignore. The question was who was going to try it first. Lirkin held up the cooked flesh, and Mateo volunteered, “Give it to me. If I die a horrible death, I will haunt you for eternity, Lirkin.” Lirkin wasn’t fazed by the threat and passed the seared spider flesh to Mateo.

Everyone watched in anticipation as Mateo crunched into the piece. He chewed slowly, and a myriad of expressions crossed his face. He took a second and third bite. Through a mouthful, he announced, “It is actually kind of good.”

Lirkin soon cooked up rows of the spider flesh on the extremely expensive grill. When my turn came, and I bit into the crunchy and sweet outer crust, my long-forgotten taste buds came alive. The spider flesh texture reminded me of scallops. The actual taste of the flesh was somewhat bland and chewy but definitely edible, with just a hint of sweetness from the honey-wine glaze.

Everyone received a palm-sized piece of spider meat. Unfortunately, the honey used in the glaze was all that Lirkin had left. I brought Castile a sample of the food and sat with her. She enjoyed the solid food as much as everyone else but still managed to take almost half an hour to eat it. Mine had been devoured in just a few seconds. Adrian returned shortly after she finished, and he sat with us. Kolm brought Adrian a piece of spider flesh and placed it in front of him. I could see his mouth-watering, but he paused to give the unwelcome news first. “There are over fifty entry rooms. Flavius never moved, and I exited and returned nearly a hundred times. I never appeared in the same room as him. Each entry room had Elvish script.”

He couldn’t wait any longer. He tried the spider meat, and it was gone in three bites. Castile let him finish before asking her questions. “How did you know there were more than fifty entry points to the maze?”

“I marked the wall every time I entered. On my ninth reentry into the dungeon, I was in the room I had marked two. I never found Flavius in my ninety-two attempts to appear in the same room as Flavius before the agreed two hours were up,” I could see Adrian keep looking toward the fire for more of the food, but one spider was just enough food for the twenty-three of us to get half of a meal.

Castile seemed to consider. “Eryk, you will go in tomorrow. Try to get one dungeon creature.” Her face got worried. “I think I will not give you the collecter in case you meet an unfortunate end.”

“I understand.” I replied reflexively. Castile suspected I had Durandus’ collector, so this would be my first opportunity to see how it worked on dungeon creatures. I was also looking forward to entering the dungeon to have some privacy. I definitely wouldn’t feel guilty now about eating some of the small amount of food left in my space now that the company had access to the dungeon.

Adrian pointed at my chest. “You should probably leave your dreamscape amulet with Castile as well.”

Castile’s face was impassive, and she had not asked to use it since she learned her nightmare spell. “Before I enter tomorrow, I will.” I was reluctant to part with it.

Lirkin extinguished the fire, and Adrian called for everyone to return to the undercity room. The mood was positive and almost boisterous as we prepared to sleep. Castile forced seven men to sleep with her nightmare spell, and five men remained on first watch. I slept next to Maveith, who continued to improve from the earlier fight.

I entered the dreamscape and immediately went to the spider bridge in the liminal space. I practiced fighting the large spiders for eight hours. They were monstrous compared to Castile’s harvest, but I figured the experience couldn’t hurt. I then studied a bit more of the elvish language figuring every little bit would help if there was writing on the walls. When I exited the dreamscape, men were whispering nearby. The conversation seemed to revolve around the possibilities of more solid food today. The pressure was going to be on me to deliver.

Castile led a lead element to the tavern, and we followed an hour later. I walked to Castile at a table, and she informed me. “Seven specters and two poltergeists this morning. It is good that we are thinning them, but I am still worried there may be many thousands in the city.”

I reluctantly handed over the dreamscape amulet to Castile. She immediately put it on, “I will keep it safe. Proceed cautiously. Just harvest one spider and return, Eryk.”

I checked my gear and ducked low as I made my way down the snow tunnel with a glowstone. Some of the snow had melted around the door, which might have been a problem if we had continued using the fireplace in the tavern. I reached the black, oily surface. My glowstone did not reflect in the dungeon’s entrance, which I thought was odd. I hesitated for just a moment before taking a careful step and pushing into the black veil beyond.

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